Assessment, Evaluation and Effectiveness

Assessment, evaluation and educational effectiveness are a major focus of research in the School of Education at Durham University. This includes the work of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM), as well as work on the development and use of assessments and the evaluation of educational interventions and programmes.

 CEM, directed by Professor Robert Coe, is the largest educational research unit in a UK University and has a major impact on education in England and in many countries beyond, from research aimed at providing information for teachers about individual pupils through to conducting large-scale interventions and analyses aimed at informing national policy. The approach has provided a model for the establishment of similar centres in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi. CEM routinely collects data on pupils’ abilities, attitudes, attainment and behaviour from over 1 million pupils in 7,000 schools every year.

 A number of staff in this area of research have an interest in the use of randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews in education and the application of meta-analysis. Professor Carole Torgerson leads a Special Interest Group at the Wolfson Research Institute. The use of evidence from trials and meta-analysis also supports out work with the Education Endowment Foundation.

 The group as is very active internationally, with a number of its members collaborating with international partners.

 A sample of projects in this area of research are listed below undertaken by staff research in this area, and further publications can be accessed through individual staff profiles.

Research Projects

• 11+ Test Exclusive To The Grammar Schools
• An Evaluation Of Targeted Mental Health in Schools
• An Evaluation of the STAR programme
• C2k, Western Education & Library Board
• CADATS, MISC Local Authority
• Cross Age Peer Tutoring
• Educational Accountability
• Entrance Test Development
• Entrance Tests
• Evaluation Of Every Child Counts
• Evaluation Of Next Practice Model
• Evaluations of National Ratings
• Grammar Schools In England
• Impact study of school inspections
• Independent evaluation of SHINE on Manchester schools
• OSCA
• P-SCALES
• Physical Activity and Well-being in Schools
• Private Tuition Pilot Evaluation
• Provision of an Irish Medium Version
• RDI In Quantitative Synthesis
• Restorative Approaches Evaluation
• Social class bias in selection
• Students Academic Ability Evaluation System
• Teach First Evaluation
• The research design basis for undergraduate quantitative methods (QM) teaching
• Toolkit for Higher Education Access: A series of systematic reviews
• Whole Schools Approach Evaluation

Staff

Academic Staff

• Prof Peter Tymms
• Dr Patrick Barmby
• Dr Sue Beverton
• Dr David Bolden
• Prof Rob Coe
• Prof Joe Elliott
• Prof Steve Higgins
• Dr Dimitra Kokotsaki
• Dr Christine Merrell
• Prof Carole Torgerson
• Dr Alan Walker-Gleaves

Research Staff

• Mr Ash Routen